Strong storms possible into Thursday

It felt more like early May instead of mid-February across Central and Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday as a strong southwest wind pushed afternoon highs into the upper 60s to low 70s. A few mid to high level clouds snuck into the area a few hours earlier than expected so that slowed our warm-up a touch but obviously it was nothing to complain about with the warm air.

As a strong wave of low pressure and a trailing cold front move into the Ohio Valley, our chances for rain and storms will pick up into the early hours of Thursday. At this point it appears we’ll see 2 main rounds of rain and storms…one in the morning and another during the afternoon/early evening hours as the main front swings through. While all modes of severe weather are possible, the early morning activity has the best chance of producing some hail and gusty winds, while the overall damaging wind threat and isolated tornado chance ramps up with the second round. The Storm Prediction Center has much of Central Kentucky in the Level 3 risk (out of 5) on Thursday with a sharp gradient down to a Level 1 into far Eastern Kentucky. Some heavy rain is possible with the favored area for any issues being far Southern Kentucky. The bottom line is to stay weather aware on Thursday!

Once the cold front moves through it will be a quick dose of reality to wrap up the week on Friday and much colder air drops in from the northwest. With some lingering clouds, temperatures will struggle to reach the upper 30s on Friday, which is a few degrees below average for this time of the year. The good news is that high pressure will build in quickly this weekend, allowing temperatures to moderate quickly so it looks like another pleasant February weekend will be on tap.

ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Mild with rain and storms late. Lows in the upper 50s to around 60 degrees.
THURSDAY: Occasional rain and storms, some strong. Highs in the upper-60s.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Breezy and turning colder. Lows in the low-30s.